A.C. Gonzalez appears to have more than enough votes to be hired as the 15th Dallas city manager Tuesday morning at a special City Council meeting.

Multiple people familiar with the deliberations confirmed that a majority of council members have committed to voting for Gonzalez, the interim city manager since July and a 15-year veteran of City Hall. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity before the public vote.

Council members met behind closed doors for more than two hours Friday evening following a day of interviews with the three finalists for the job. Informal discussions continued through the weekend, and it became clear by Monday that neither of the other finalists had gained enough votes to overtake Gonzalez, despite his rocky tenure in the interim position.

The 62-year-old Far North Dallas resident would replace Mary Suhm, who stepped down last year after eight years. Gonzalez was one of her top deputies for most of her term. He also served as an assistant city manager from 1988 to 1995.

The two other finalists were David Cooke, 53, who retired in November as county manager in Wake County, N.C., and Deanna Santana, 43, city administrator in Oakland, Calif.

Reached by phone Monday, Gonzalez declined to comment. Santana said she did not have any information beyond the fact that a vote was scheduled for Tuesday. Cooke could not be reached for comment.

Through a spokesman, Mayor Mike Rawlings declined to comment.

Line of insiders

If hired, Gonzalez would follow a long line of insiders who rose through the ranks to run the city’s bureaucracy. He would also be the second Hispanic to hold the job. The first was Ted Benavides, who served from 1998 until he resigned in 2004.

Gonzalez enjoys support among many developers, lawyers, community group leaders and former council members. The San Antonio native’s loyalty to Dallas is unquestioned. His institutional knowledge is vast.

But he is not without critics. Among them are those who believe now is the time for a fresh start and new ideas at 1500 Marilla St. Some have called him politically tone deaf and overly focused on pleasing people.

Gonzalez’s missteps in the interim role gave them extra ammunition. In what he later said was one of the worst decisions of his career, Gonzalez pushed last year for a new ordinance governing transportation companies. Officials of Uber, a smartphone car service, say the ordinance would have forced them out of the Dallas market.

Gonzalez worked with a Yellow Cab attorney to draft the proposed ordinance, and he placed it on a City Council consent agenda, meaning it was to have been voted on without discussion. He apologized to the council for mishandling the matter.

An investigation led by Rawlings found that Gonzalez had done nothing illegal or unethical. Still, the mayor said he found the interim city manager’s actions “highly disappointing.”

Damage to standing

Though the episode damaged Gonzalez’s standing in some segments of the community, it did not appear to be a major factor in the city manager decision for most council members.

Even so, a Gonzalez hire would not necessarily be an endorsement of business as usual at City Hall. Some council members have said that they want to see changes, even if Gonzalez were to be hired.

Gonzalez has acknowledged those sentiments. He said in a recent interview that he rejects the criticism that he represents the status quo. His track record in Dallas, he said, proves that he has long been about making change happen.

During his first run as an assistant city manager from 1988 to 1995, he was instrumental in bringing the Dallas Stars professional hockey team here from Minnesota. He also worked on a major expansion of the downtown convention center.

After leaving to work for the Austin Independent School District and, later, in the private sector, Gonzalez was hired back by Suhm in 2006.

Since then, one of his biggest successes was pushing for construction of the city-owned Omni Dallas Hotel, which adjoins the convention center. That project survived a referendum largely bankrolled by real estate mogul Harlan Crow, son of Trammell Crow.

End of the search

Tuesday will mark the end of a city manager search that began soon after Suhm stepped down. The California-based search firm Bob Murray & Associates helped vet and pick candidates at a cost of $40,800.

Almost the entire process and all council member deliberations were held behind closed doors. Community groups were not invited to formally meet the candidates, though the mayor’s office said the search firm did contact numerous business and community group representatives.

The search process picked up considerable speed once the semifinalists were named late last year.

Gonzalez, the only in-house contender, and the other five candidates interviewed with council members at City Hall days before Christmas. Earlier this month, the council pared the list down to the three finalists.

Separate pairs of council members traveled to Raleigh-Durham and Oakland to research the candidates on their home turf. Those trips cost at least an estimated $5,000 for flights, hotels and rental cars, according to the mayor’s office.